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Logan adopts tri-county pre-disaster mitigation plan

The Logan Municipal Council voted to have the city participate in a five-year tri-county pre-disaster mitigation plan, presented by the Bear River Association of Governments, on Tuesday night.

The pre-disaster mitigation plan provides strategies for jurisdictions on what the city can do to mitigate effects of natural hazards. Upon adopting the plan, cities can apply for funding to bring area-specific projects into their communities.

Regional Planner Zac Covington, who worked with Assistant Fire Chief Will Lusk to complete the Logan city section of the plan, said the goal is to minimize the damage a natural disaster could do to a community.

“We’re expecting most likely on the Wasatch Front, closer to Brigham City, an earthquake in the future; geologists say it’s coming soon,” Covington told the Municipal Council. “If it does come we’ll feel it over here.”

Covington, who worked with 39 municipalities to update their plans, said the purpose of reviewing them every five years is to “analyze existing data, to inform communities where their greatest risks are for natural hazards.”

In an interview with The Herald Journal, he added, “It determines potential risks, potential losses for residents, structures, infrastructures, helps them gauge their need for natural hazard planning for various hazards.”

Hazards in Cache Valley include wildfires, severe weather or land floods, or geologic-induced hazards, he said.

A unanimous vote by the council allowed the city to adopt the pre-disaster mitigation plan, which will make them eligible to apply for federal funding to reduce risks.

“This is really a very detailed and informative document,” Councilman Karl Ward said. “It’s good for everybody to ... become familiar with where some of the high-risk areas are and how we as citizens ourselves can mitigate those kinds of things we’re at risk at.”

The council last adopted a plan in 2009.

source: hjnews.com

Disaster management plan for Smart Cities recommended

http://www.railnews.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/NDMA.jpgNEW DELHI: Cities being developed in coastal states as 'Smart Cities' under the Prime Minister's flagship programme must be disaster resilient, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has told the government after a 10-month-long study on the Cyclone HudHud which had created wide-scale destruction in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

In a report titled 'Strategies and Lessons for preparing better and strengthening risk resilience in coastal regions of India', DMA explains how the 'eye' of the 2014 HudHud cyclone lay exactly over the Vishakapatnam city and caused widespread damage to property and natural resources though lot of lives were saved given advance preparations made.

"The smart cities being built and many more cities/towns which are coming up or located in the vulnerable coastal areas, need to be designed and built based on multi hazard resilient features. The smart cities and other cities being developed in coastal areas through Central Assistance must have a component of disaster management plan integrated with district disaster management plan," the NDMA has now recommended to the Urban Development Ministry. The NDMA has further proposed the concept of' Early Warning to the Last Mile' to save lives.

"On receipt of information from Indian Meteorological Department of the approaching cyclone, the State Emergency Operation Centre would immediately through a web based early warning dissemination system send warning from Chief Secretary/Chief Minister right up to the last mile i.e. people living in far flung coastal areas and to fishermen through their mobiles or other systems so installed. This will help the people to become vigilant 48-72 hours before the landfall of cyclone and either shift to safer places such as Multipurpose Cyclone Shelters or to move to areas within the state which are not likely to be affected by cyclone," the report says. It has also proposed that a database be prepared of pregnant women in their 4th trimester be to shift them to emergency care in hospitals before the cyclone strikes.

source: indiatimes.com

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